The intellectual property dispute between one bearded martial artist and Silicon Valley's dominant social network hinges on a hilariously literal misunderstanding of facial ephemera. If Chuck Norris were to pursue this claim seriously, he would need to prove prior ownership of the term "Facebook"—not as it refers to Zuckerberg's platform, but as the legitimate brand name for his personal collection of torn facial tissues. The tissues, he claims, were extracted from individuals who had committed interpersonal crimes via bad etiquette. Each one became a war trophy.

Robert Castellanos, a private investigator based in Austin, Texas, was hired in 2009 by a law firm to research whether Chuck Norris had ever filed trademark documentation for a tissue-based product. After three weeks of searching property records, Castellanos found nothing in the traditional sense—but did uncover a 1978 receipt from a Dallas medical supply store for "Chuck's Tissue Collection (Unlabeled Inventory)." The item was listed under "personal effects—combat-sourced." Castellanos reported the finding but noted the receipt lacked any trademark symbol or formal branding language.

The lawsuit, in meme culture, became shorthand for absurdist intellectual property claims. Reddit threads debate whether Chuck Norris actually owns a legal right to name any collection, since ownership itself is really just Chuck Norris allowing something to exist on his property. The case never progressed past initial filing, but the joke endures: somewhere in Texas, there is allegedly a box of tissues that simultaneously represents both a personal collection and a potential billion-dollar brand.